Powdered-fuel furnace feeder



May 27 192.4. 1,495,479

A. J. QRINDLE POWDEREDFUEL FURNACE FEEDER Filed Dec. 14, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 27, 1924.

A. J. GRINDLE POWDERED FUEL. FURNACE FEEDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 14, 1922 Patented May 27, 1224.-

I carr es stares j teasers-J,- aaraiaroaaiica- AUBREY 3'. GRINDLE, or cmca'eo, itmnois, ass enoa 'rocaiainan rum. more MENT OOMFANY, 0F HARVEY, ILLINOIS,-A;CORPORATI ON OF ILLINOIS.

rownniann-runn 'ruaimcn FEEDER.

Application filed December 14;19'2'2. Serial n eoasaai To all whom it may concern.

Be it knownthat I, AUBREY. J. GRINDLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new v and useful Improvement in Powdered-Fuel Furnace Feeders, of which the followingis a specification. I

My present invention relatesto improvements in apparatus of the type disclosed in my prior Patent1,4=57,521, June 5,1923, for feedpowdered coal,

ing comminuted fuel, such as to .furnaces, my particular purpose now being to provide a novel form-of fuel feeding screw and to arrange the same in a'novel manner with respect to a fuel chamber and a fuel conduit, whereby undesirable blow-back of Y air from the conduit is prevented; topiovide a rotatable'disk adjustable 'with respect to I 1, slipwing the deflectingplate and its 'relation'with respect to the feed disk; v

Fig; 4, ayiew similar to Fig. '3 showing the teeth carried by a fixed partof the apparatus for cooperation with the. feed disk; F1 5, a face.:view of the feed disk, showing it e forni ofg the teeth thereon for coop eration with the teeth shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig 6, 'adetail perspective showing the manner in which the air deflecting plate is removablyassociated with the apparatus. Referring now to the drawings in detail, 10 designatesa fuel chamber or hopper that is connected by a relatively restricted cylin-, drical passage 11 with'a' fuel conduit '12, which latter, to one side of said passage, leads -to a furnace or other burning appara tus, and to the other side of said'passage has connected'therewith a blower 13.. The

whereby'breaking up ofthefuel is accoinblower 13 isconnected directly with or otherwise suitably driven by a motor 14 and the; latter also is suitably connected'with a screw 15 for. feeding fuel from the hopper through said restricted passage-to the conduit. Thus, when the motor is in operation a current of air is forced through. the conduit to admix with'tlie fuel and effect its delivery to the furnace, a suitable valve 16 vb'eiio g provided in the conduit,,between the passage 11 and the blower, whereby the flow of air may be regulated in desired proportion to the ,feed of the fuel. 'f The feed screw 15 consists of a core that, preferably, is formed oftwo solid sections 17 and, 18 non-rotata'bly securedv together in end to end relation, one s ection,-17 being cylindrical and the other 'secti0n,-18, being of tapering form and flaring gradually outward from the cylindrical section. 'Each the delivery end of the feedscrew to break up the fuel during its delivery to the conduit and to provide cooperating teeth 'of. a'particiilarly beneficial character on the disk and an adjacent fixed'portion of the mechanism,

plished. expeditiously and efficiently; to pro vide an air deflector in the nature of a plate adapted to cooperate with the disk and said I feed screw to further eliminate undesirable blow-back of air from the conduit into the fuel chamber, and to provide means whereby the disk may be adjusted through saidplate to diiferent operative positions w th respect to the feed screw without disturbing its operative relation with respect to the late. i p With the foregoing and other purposes in View, my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the ac companying drawings and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the different views, Figure 1 isa longitudinal section through my fuel feeding apparatus, showing particularly the fuel chamber or hopper, the blowwhich are of uniform outside diameter throughout the length of-tlie screw, and the threads of each section are continuous with respect to the threads of the other section,- as shown This feed screw is arranged with its cylindrical core portion within the re stricted cylindrical passage 11 and itsltapered core portion within the hopper, and is adapted to be. rotated to effect delivery (if er, and my improved fuel feed and air confuel from the hopper throughsaid passage tI-Ol d i a 11 to the-conduit, to which end t is provided 2, a longitudinal section through-my with ax al tI'PIlnlOIiS or shafts 20,21 that extend from its ends and are'journaled, 're-- spectively, in suitable bearings 22,- 23, the

I improved feed screw; I

Fig. 3, a section on the line 3-3 of F g.

section is provided with threads "19, all of closes an opening 25 in a wall of the conduit through which the screw is insertable and removable, and the latter of which is formed with the housing 26 which encloses a suitable variable speed gearmechanism. A belt 27 connects a pulley 28 on the motor 14twith a pulley 29 on a shaft 30 of the variable speed gearing, whereby the screw is .driven from the motor, and by reason of the variable speed gearing, the speed of rotation of the screw may be varied without disturbing the speed of the motor and the blower, all as set forth in any prior Patent 1,457,521 aforementioned.

By providing a feed screw of the character shown and by arranging the same in the manner mentioned, I accomplish two important and beneficialpurposes; to wit, 1 pro" vide for constant and uniform feed of the fuel into the conduit, and I avoid undesirable blow-back of air from the conduit into the fuel chamber. The first of these purposes is accomplished as a result oftapering the core of the screw, which assures a progressively greater amount of fuel being moved forward as the delivery end of the screw is approached; thereby preventing packing of the fuel between the threads and arching of the same over the screw, particularly when the fuel is damp. llhe second purpose is accomplished as a result of disposing the cylindrical portion of the screw within the cylindrical passage 11, the latter thereby being maintained full of fuel throughout its length when the apparatus is in operation and a barrier thus being formed that pre 'vents the air in the conduit from reaching the fuel chamber. Furthermore, by forming the threads of the screw of uniform outside diameter throughout its length, the fuel isfed into the passage 11 at the same rate that it is discharged therefrom, so that the fuel barrier aforementioned is constantly maintained, yet packing of fuel within said passage is prevented- Mounted on the shaft 21 for rotation therewith is a, disk 31 that is adapted to break up the fuel as it is delivered into the conduit 12 by the feed screw. This disk is so disposed with respect to the wall of the conduit surrounding the passage 11 that a space is provided between the disk and said wall through which the fuel passes during its delivery to the conduit, and as shown,"

nee eve fuel falls by gravity into the conduit and is picked up and. delivered by said aircurrent to the furnace. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide means to substantially separate the delivery end of the feed screw from the conduit, so that the air current will not interfere with the free feed of the fuel, and to this end l dispose within the conduit, 3 somewhat in advance of the delivery end of the screw, a plate 3% which is turned inwardly along its bottom edge in the direction of and below the screw and terminaes in spaced relation to a relatively outwardly extending lip 35 on the adjacent wall of the conduit, whereby a narrow opening is provided-through which the fuel may fall into the conduit and whereby the latter otherwise is separated from the screw. Said plate is provided with an opening 36 within which the disk 81 operates and saiddisk is piovided with a'laterally extending peripheral. flange 37, whereby it may be longitudinally adjusted along the shaft 20 and through said opening within predetermined limits an at the same time-maintain said. opening substantially closed. The plate 3% rests on and between lugs 38 on opposite side walls the conduit as shown in detail in Fi c 0:; I the drawings and thereby is removable after the-shaft 20 and. disk 31 have'been withdrawn from within its opening 36. By use of this plate the air current, as it travels past the narrow'opening between the bottom of the plate and the lip 35, creates in effect a partial vacuum between the plate and the adjacent wall of the conduit, which tends to draw the fuel away from the delivery end of the screw and thereby assists in obtaining ice - continuous, uniform feed of fuel into the conduit, and further eliminates the possibility of undesirable blow-back of air into the fuel chamber. i

1. in mechanism of the class described, a fuel chamber, a conduit, a feed screw for delivering fuel from said chamber to said conduit, means for forcing a current of through said conduit to effect delive; the fuel supplied thereto by said feed so" a rotatable disk. disposed within said co (but in advance of the delivery end of se feed screw to break up the fuel during delivery to the conduit, and a plate dispos within the conduit in advance of the delivery end of said feed screw to avoid blo back of the air from said conduit into ti 1 fuel chamber, said plate having open ing within which the disk operates.

r ea-are Q; In mechanism of the class described, a fuel chamber, a conduit, a feed screw for de-. livering fuel from said chamber" to said conduit, means for forcing a current of air through said conduitfto efiect delivery of i the fuel supplied thereto by said feed screw,

a rotatable disk disposed within said conduit in advance of the delivery end of said feed screw to break up the fuel during its, deliver to the conduit, said disk'being adjusta le toward and away from the delivery end of said feed screw, a plate-disposed within the conduit in advancetof the de livery end of said-feed screw to avoid blowback of the air from said conduitinto the fuel chamber, said plate having an open ing within which the disk operates, and the disk being provided with a laterally extending peripheral flange whereby the opening in said plate is maintained substantially closed by said" disk in. different adjusted ositions of the lattertoward and away from said feed screw.

3. In mechanism of the class described, a fuel chamber, a conduit, a feed screw for deliveringfuel from said chamber to said conduit, means for forcing .a current of air through said conduit to effect delivery of the fuel supplied thereto by said feed screw, a rotatable'disk disposed within said conduit in advance of the delivery end of said feed screw to break up the fuel during its de-' livery to the conduit,'said disk being ad- 'ustable toward and away from the delivery 'end of said feed screw, a plate disposed within the conduit in advance of the delivery end of said feed screw to avoid blowback of airfrom said conduit into the feed chamber, said plate having an opening within which.- the disk operates, and means whereby the opening in said plate is maintained substantially closed'by said disk in different adjusted positions of the latter toward and away from said feed screw.

1 4. In mechanism of the class described, a fuel chamber, a conduit, a .feed screw for delivering fuel from said chamber to said conduit, means for forcing a current of air; through said conduit to effect delivery of' the fuel supplied thereto by said feed screw, :1 disk disposed within said conduit in ad vance of the delivery endof said feed'screw to break up the fuel during its delivery to the conduit, said disk being adjustable toward-and away from the delivery end of said screw, and means surrounding said disk and extending to portions of the walls of said conduit ad acent thereto whereby blow .said feed screw, and means to cause all. fuel to be delivered in .a downward direction from said feed screw to said conduit;

6. In mechanism of the class described, a fuel chamber, a vertically extending conduit, a horizontally disposed feed screw for delivering fuel from said chamber to said conduit, meansfor forcing a current of air upwardly through said conduit and across thedelivery end of said feed screw to effect delivery offuel supplied to said conduit by said feedscrew,'aud means substantially separating the delive end of said feed screw from said conduit and. restricting communication. between the fuel chamber p and the conduit to a narrow opening dis-" v posed below the delivery end of the feed screw.

7. In mechanism of the class described, a a fuel chamber, a vertically extending 'conduit, a horizontally disposed feed screw for delivering fuel from said chamber to said conduit, means for forcing a cur-rent of air upwardly through said conduit and across the delivery and of said feed screw to efi'ect delivery of fuel supplied to said conduit b said feed screw, a plate disposed in ad Vance of the delivery end of said feed screw and-at substantially right angles to the axis 'thereof,'said plate extending at its top and sides into contact with adjacent portions of the walls of said conduit and at its bottom edge being turned inward towards said feed :screw, and an outwardly extending lip von the wall of said conduit below said feed screw'cooperating'with the lower edge of said plate to restrict communication between said fuel chamber and said conduit toa narrow opening disposed below the delivery end of the feed screw, thereby to cause all fuel'to be delivered in a downward directlon from saidfeed screw to said conduit and ayoid blow-back of air from said conduit into the fuel chamber.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto sub-'- scribed my name.

'A UBREY 1i; 's rN'nLE. 

